Ayre and Sons

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Ayre & Sons, Ltd.

Company type	Private (1859-1991)
Industry	Retail (Department store & Supermarket)
Founded	1859
Defunct	1991
Fate	Filed for bankruptcy
Headquarters	St. John's, Newfoundland
Key people	Charles R. Ayre
Products	Everything from clothing to farming implements
Number of employees	70,000

Ayre & Sons, Ltd. was a department store chain in Newfoundland, Canada. The chain was formed in 1859 in St. John's, Newfoundland by Charles R. Ayre. Ayre opened his flagship store on Water Street in St. John's in 1859. After Newfoundland joined the Canadian confederation in 1949, Ayre's opened some more stores across the province in the 1960s, with locations in Mount Pearl, Carbonear, Corner Brook, and Wabush. A location in the Avalon Mall in St. John's also opened when the mall opened in 1967. However, the company began to encounter financial problems in the 1980s, and in 1991, Ayre and Sons filed for bankruptcy.